36. Chapter 36
Chapter 36
Gage
I was leaning over my desk, eyes unfocused, when a stupidly obvious idea occurred to me.
I’d been trying to get into this drive for over an hour, and all I needed was a password. If I really believed that Dallas was the one to leave this drive for us, then why hadn’t I tried—
“Dallas,” I said out loud as I typed the name into my keyboard.
How was I this fucking stupid?
The file unlocked. I clicked through, finding dozens—maybe hundreds—of pictures. The hair on the back of my neck stood up.
These were surveillance pictures. Of us.
I flipped through the first dozen. They dated back to the start of the firm, showing various shots of the guys unloading boxes and moving furniture. I skimmed further, skipping to the bottom of the folder. If these were in chronological order…
My entire body went still. The very last image on the drive was from only a week ago. I stood at the side of my truck, holding the door as Abby stepped out. We were looking at each other, her expression affectionate.
There was a sloppy heart drawn around her in red.
“Abigail!” I boomed, shooting from my chair.
I didn’t make it far. A semi-crashed through the window and struck me. That was the only explanation for the sudden and painful expulsion of breath from my diaphragm. I doubled over, tumbling to my knees. I was too imbalanced to stand, as if my legs had been kicked out from under me.
Then it clicked, and a howl ripped through my vocal chords.
It didn’t make sense. Abby was there, right there outside my door.
I was running, tearing across the room, swinging the door back so hard it fell off its hinges and slammed onto the floor.
Levi was already emerging from the hallway, eyes bright with the lethal glow of an alpha wolf. I ignored him, barely registering his presence as I stared at the empty desk where Abby should be sitting. I paced around the seating area, nose high, searching as if she was sitting among the black leather chairs and I’d somehow missed her.
But she wasn’t here. I knew without checking the rest of the office that she wasn’t here.
And when I turned my hunt inward, I nearly doubled over again as I realized I couldn’t feel her.
The bond was there, strong and thrumming with life, but Abby was strangely quiet, a distant note instead of the constant symphony of vibrant emotion.
I barely got the office door open as my hands began to shift. The wolf was fighting his way out, but I wouldn’t cede control to him. Not until I was free of the confines of this building, free to chase down my mate to whatever dark place she was taken to.
Levi was snarling at me, shouting commands, but it was nothing more than sound. A jumble of noises my half-feral mind couldn’t interpret.
He was behind me when I took to the stairs, moving so fast my feet barely touched the steps. I was somewhere between wolf and man, a twisted monster that was moments from committing unspeakable acts of violence.
Three scents hit me when I flew through the lobby door. Abby, Dallas, and blood.
I didn’t stop to investigate if it was her blood, didn’t bother searching the lobby. She was already gone, her scent disappearing out the front of the building.
I shifted without thought, finally giving the hunt over to the wolf. His senses were more powerful than mine could ever be, and he easily followed Abby’s trail. Glass crashed around me as I smashed through both lobby doors. A deafening alarm roared to life, quickly becoming distant as I burst onto the street.
Out here the scents were numerous but not too numerous to find hers. Hers that was burned into me. Hers that was like an anchor I could follow anywhere.
The trail vanished in a stink of diesel. They got into a vehicle. No, he put her into one. Dallas had her, took her.
Blood pumped in my ears, my vision blurring with red. My feet pounded the pavement as I raced down the street, snout lifted for even the tiniest whiff of Abby. I could feel her as the bond stretched taut with distance, but the city was a maze of streets and alleyways and there was no way to tell exactly which direction was the right way.
I picked one anyway, barreling down the sidewalk. People screamed as I turned onto a busier street where they were flooding the sidewalk on their way to lunch. I ignored them.
I ignored the blare of a car horn, the screech of breaks, and the faint sound of sirens. I could see nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing but the consuming need to find my mate.
Until I made a wrong turn and found myself walled in. A massive, dominant presence appeared behind me, trapping me in a dead end where three buildings met.
I spun on my pursuer, teeth bared, the instinct to protect my mate overriding one of self-preservation that said I should be dipping my head in submission. An alpha stood between me and my escape, his human form broad and fierce.
Not so fierce that he could take on a monster. My wolf almost scoffed, dismissing the threatening growl vibrating Levi’s body.
“Shift, Gage. Now.”
I lunged at him, not landing a blow but giving an obvious warning.
His eyes glowed brighter, neon blue illuminating the shadow of concrete buildings. “You’ll never find her like this.” His next words were laced with concern. “Abby needs you to be thinking clearly, Gage. We need your skills if we’re going to find her.”
Beneath the haze of wolf and rage, I heard the truth in my brother’s words. I couldn’t run the whole city, hoping the bond would steer me in the correct direction. This was a strategic attack, and it would take a strategic mind to counter it.
Levi tossed a pair of jeans and a rumpled t-shirt onto the ground. “Shift.”
The wolf fought the command at first, still crazed with the need to run, hunt, sink his teeth into his pack mate turned enemy. When I finally emerged from beneath fur and fury I was shaking, sweat dripping from my forehead and forming a pool around me on the concrete.
“It was Dallas,” I croaked. “Dallas fucking took her.”
“I know,” Levi murmured. “He killed the receptionist and two men who work on the second floor. The office is crawling with cops. We can’t go back.”
“I told you he was a threat!” I boomed, rising to my feet and lunging at my brother again.
Levi shoved me back. “And I believed you! I couldn’t have known he would take Abby. If I did—” That alpha growl started in his chest again, and this time my wolf rumbled in agreement. “Abby is pack. We’ll find her, Gage. I won’t stop until we do. But I need you to find your head, now more than ever.”
“It’s another set up. He’s luring us.”
“Exactly, and I’m not smart enough to figure out all the plays without you.”
I stuffed my legs into Levi’s jeans, nearly tearing the shirt as I pulled it over my head. My wolf was still at a twelve out of ten, ready to fight anything that remotely resembled a threat, and I wasn’t doing much better. That annoying buzz at the side of my neck was back with a vengeance, louder than ever.
This time, I didn’t react. The rage that wanted to bubble up was swallowed by a greater, clearer motivation.
I couldn’t afford to lose it. Instead, I closed my eyes, feeling the pulse of the bond, assuring myself that she was still alive. Unconscious, maybe, or far away, but she was okay for now. The warmth of that golden thread seeped through me, quieting the rage—almost overriding it.
I was going to find Abby. It didn’t matter where Dallas took her. I wouldn’t stop. I would hunt them both, endlessly, tirelessly, across every mile of Washington state and beyond.
My wolf and I had one singular purpose now, and we were nothing if not relentless.